There is no question that the prevailing theme for this week’s column has to be people, places and things on the move. As schools and colleges begin another academic year, we see the exodus of summer workers as they return to their off-Island homes and schools. Island students also begin preparation for their return to school and college. Most summers it would be unusual to see one building being moved down the road; this summer Chappy has had two buildings relocated to other areas of our island. And the power of Mother Nature was on exhibit for all to see last weekend as our south facing beaches were pummeled by the waves from Hurricane Bill.

People on the move has to include the young people who came to Chappy and the Vineyard to work summer jobs. Among those who have recently left Chappy to return to school are Chappaquiddick Community Center office assistant Molly Sullivan, and center’s sailing instructors Barton and JJ Phinney. In the past week the Chappy ferry has seen the departure of many of the seasonal deckhands while others will be leaving shortly. The summer deckhands include Hallie Carol, Clara Goldfield, Charlotte and Rachel Wells, Matt Wetzel, George and Todd Manley, Zac Waller, Alex Minnehan and Jeff LaMarche. Year-round residents Amy and William Fligor, the children of ferry Capt. Brad Fligor, will continue working on the ferry and are being joined by newcomer Angela Bettencourt.

The move of the former Heywood home on Cape Pogue to its new location on Tom’s Neck Farm Friday, August 7, certainly qualifies for places on the move. Traffic coming from the ferry was diverted onto Litchfield Road as the former Heywood bow house slowly made its way along the tar road from the Cole property, down the Dike Bridge Road before turning onto Tom’s Neck Farm. Among those watching the slow progress were Annie Heywood, Hope Slater, Diana Slater and the Potters. The coordinated effort of the movers, utility company and workers will now allow Tina and Collin Floyd and their children to turn the former Heywood home into the new Floyd home, hopefully by Christmas.

Things on the move would have to be the beach between Wasque and Norton Point in Edgartown due to Hurricane Bill. According to Chris Kennedy of The Trustees of Reservations the breach beach was physically pushed back into Katama close to 15 feet and the breach continues to move east towards Chappaquiddick from Norton Point. The storm did cause damage to the Wasque beach parking area, beach board walk, signage and fencing at the Wasque Reservation and some dunes at Wasque were completely washed away. Saturday afternoon four whale vertebrae, believed to be from a minke whale that had washed ashore this past winter on South Beach, came ashore on the breach beach and were salvaged by Trustees ranger Will Geresy. Among those watching the power of the surf and waves as they swept over the breach beach on Sunday were Anne Lohr, Ellen Sole, Sue and Chris Phinney, Nancy Hugger and Skip Bettencourt, Sue and Will Geresy, and Vivian and Lionel Spiro. All seemed to be awed and impressed with the power, beauty, and majesty of the show of force by Mother Nature.

While most of the summer programs at the Chappaquiddick Community Center have ended until next year the summer film series continues tonight with the showing of the Chinese film Still Life at 7:30 p.m. In addition, tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Chappy Pong continues on the center porch. The welcome return of the center potluck suppers begins Wednesday, Sept. 16. If you are interested in hosting a potluck dinner please contact Margaret Knight at the center on 508-627-8222.

Louis Becker, son of Claire Thacher and Roger Becker, is getting married Sept. 19 in Knoxville, Tenn., to Rachel McCord. Currently Louis and Rachel are living in Boston in a building that once housed a bakery but has since been converted to apartments and offices, and Louis does a reverse commute to his job at EBSCO in Ipswich. I wish them every happiness as they begin their life together.

Carlos Osborne and his wife Dana Guyer are vacationing at their Wasque home along with Carlos’ mother, Ruth Tilghman, of Brattleboro, Vt. Ruth continues to recuperate from double knee replacements that she had in May while Carlos and Dana have been hitting the beach prior to their return to Nashville, Tenn., where Dana continues her pediatric residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Carlos continues working on his doctoral degree in psychology.

Chappy was well represented at the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Fair with Anne Heywood winning a second place ribbon for her knitted afghan, an honorable mention for her hooked rug, a third place ribbon for her original design needlepoint stool seat cover and a sixth place ribbon for her 28-foot toss in the Sunday skillet toss in the senior category. David Ryan won first place in the 15 to 20 year old oil painting category with a self portrait. Congratulations to five-year-old Ilana Kagan for her first place blue ribbon in the junior handicraft under seven division for her felt treasure pouch. Ilana had finger-knit the strap of her pouch and did have some assistance with sewing the strap to the pouch itself. My apologies if there are other Chappy winners whose work I did not locate.

For me, one of the most unusual aspects of last weekend’s approaching Hurricane Bill was the complete silence outside my home. Generally, I awake to the morning wake-up calls of birds and the buzzing of various insects. That was not the case last Saturday. There were no birds chirping, no insects buzzing, and no breeze rustling the leaves. The stillness was complete and just a little bit eerie.